Bethany Hamilton

We stopped in the airport bookstore before our return flight from California and Josh asked if he could buy "Soul Surfer," the book written by Bethany Hamilton. She is a Hawaiian-born professional surfer who was bitten by a shark as a young girl and lost her arm in the attack. She returned to surfing and her story is very inspirational. But it is the shark and the missing arm that excite Josh and Lucas the most. The whole flight back, they just flipped through the book's photo pages again and again.

They stayed interested in the book even after we returned, so we also rented the Soul Surfer movie, which they watched about four times in the 24-hour rental period. Shortly after that, I was reading the news online one Saturday night when I happened to see a news item that Bethany was in town to speak at a church about 45 minutes away. So the next morning, I loaded up the boys and we headed out to this Texas mega-church, which was a unique experience.

Her presentation was very good. I only had my phone for a camera (we were inside church, after all, even if it was full of neon, stadium seating, cameras swirling around on wires, and a full-scale rock band), so these photos are grainy and not very good. But here is Bethany demonstrating how to use an Indo board, which is much more difficult than she makes it look.







Several minutes into her talk, Lucas leaned over to me and whispered, "Look Mommy, that girl lost an arm just like Bethany." I whispered back, "Lucas, that IS Bethany." I guess she is several years older now than her photos in the book, which is how he pictures her. He was surprised and pleased to get to see her in person, as were Josh and I. She is charming, positive, and down to earth, and I recommend her talks if she comes to speak near you.

Bowling day!

By popular request, our last day at Lake Almanor included a trip to the Chester bowling alley. It was lots of fun, but let's just say that some of our other bowlers should have joined Lucas and Josh on the lane with bumpers. Still, everyone had a good time.






The showman:



Papa Gene gets ready to throw a strike:

Mt. Lassen

We couldn't take our usual day-trip to Juniper Lake, because the forest road to the lake was still snowed under, so we decided to return to Mt. Lassen National Park to see the geothermal areas. Unfortunately, the hike to the big, impressive geothermal area also was closed due to snowbanks (and you do NOT want to end up off-trail in that area because you couldn't see the markers -- you will lose a leg or worse). So we made ourselves content with a drive along the main road, which still offered plenty of sights to see.

First was a steam vent:



And then a bubbling mud pot!



After suffering through the first 40 days or so of the record-breaking Texas heat this summer (which lasted a full 70 days with temps above 100 degrees), this trip to a high altitude with cool air was a very welcome treat!



We made snowballs.

We goofed around with lava rocks from the last Mt. Lassen eruption.

The boys with Lassen Peak in the background:

A glacial erratic, meaning this rock is a much different age than all the land and rocks around it, and was transported to this location when a glacier pushed it down Lassen Peak:

Lake Helen. That's right, that's a LAKE under all that snow. It was so pretty in real life -- the most amazing shade of blue from the mountain-clear water and the blue sky reflecting in the snowmelt.

We found a sledding hill!

It was a blast. Everyone was jealous when we returned to the Texas inferno and boasted that we'd been snow-sledding on vacation!

Boating Day

We took another (and much less traumatic) boating trip this year. We rented a pontoon boat for a 3-hour cruise around the lake. There was a lot of snow and it melted late this year in Northern California, so the water level was high and the water temperature was low. We didn't do any real swimming during our boating trip, we just enjoyed the serenity.

This was about as deep as either Lucas or Josh got in the water:

It was a beautiful day.

Lake Almanor tennis lessons

Josh enjoyed another year of tennis "lessons" during our vacation. He goofed off a little less this year, and still has a good swing despite getting very little playing time the rest of the year. He is a natural at just about every sport, it seems.

Lake Almanor -- cont'd

Lake Almanor has two swimming areas: "Rec 1" and "Rec 2." Both have a dock you can swim out to, but Rec 2 is smaller, steeper, and rockier. For those reasons, it is also less busy, and we used to prefer it. But now that the boys can swim and play in the water, Rec 1 has more to offer.

The boys enjoyed throwing a football around while wading in the water:






And I mean all the boys enjoyed it. Here are all five Markley boys throwing the ball around:



Lucas also enjoyed sticking his head in the sand and shuttling along to make a trail in the sand:




One day, Josh said he was going to swim out to the dock and stay there all day. I thought it was hyperbole, but he swam out to the dock and stayed there all day, until finally Curtis went out too and swam back with him. He loved being part of all the action on the dock.

Curtis thought he was easy to spot, since he always had that mask on his head!

Lucas also stuck his head in the water and then flung it up, making a little duck-tail of hair on his forehead:

And Josh just stayed the course on the dock, until he was the last man standing!

1st day of SECOND grade!

Josh headed off to second grade today! Last night he said his heart was beating really hard; he was nervous. But today he was all smiles and excited to see his friends again.



We weren't sure who his new teacher would be, but there are only two sections of second grade at his school, so we had a 50/50 guess. We checked this morning and learned he is in Ms. Mitchell's class. But then we found out that the two sections switch teachers every day after recess, so he has Ms. Mitchell in the morning and Ms. Salazar in the afternoon.

Ms. Mitchell's classroom is very exciting: it has NO desks! Just assorted reading areas and work tables. Ms. Salazar's classroom has proper desks for math, science, and social studies.



Josh was excited to find that several of his friends from last year are in his section. He had no problems saying goodbye and was happy to be back in school.

At home, it was time for celebratory cupcakes!



Lucas really enjoyed his blue icing!

Lake Almanor 2011

I still haven't finished posting pictures from our trip to VA but I'll move on to Lake Almanor and hope to get back to the others soon.

We visit Lake Almanor with John's parents every year at the end of July/beginning of August. This year was Josh's 8th trip and Lucas' 5th -- hard to believe! The lake is in the Mt. Lassen area, very close to Mt. Lassen National Volcanic Park. The year Josh was a newborn, we journeyed into the national park and hiked down to a geothermal area full of steaming lakes and bubbling mud pots, so hot that you would lose your leg if you strayed off the walking path. Needless to say, we've been waiting to return when we could be SURE the boys would stay on the constructed pathways!

Because the lake is a mountain lake, the water level rises and falls based on yearly snowfall and snowmelt. This year, it snowed in Northern California even in May, so the lake was very full. The area where we stay is a peninsula, which ends in a point known as "The Point." This is Josh's favorite place at Lake Almanor, because he can climb down the big rocks to the water, practice skipping rocks, and enjoy a panoramic view of the whole lake. We drove down to the Point on our first day only to find it wasn't there: the water had risen so high that you couldn't even drive to the parking area, it was submerged! The bench we usually sit on to enjoy the sunset was about 20 feet out in the water. As John's mom said, there was no point to The Point.

But our other Sunday tradition is the weekly "family dinner" in which all the families on the peninsula join at the recreation area to grill dinner, eat and catch up, play volleyball, and then listen to a band. This one went off without a hitch. John took over cooking duties, and Josh and Lucas played volleyball (with a soccer ball -- had to improvise) while the adults caught up with old friends.

Back at the house, there were many things to keep us entertained. Not least of which was the kid-sized firetruck, complete with pedals and a movable hose. Even Josh squeezed himself in there for some fun.

The deer are always fun to seek out. This year, the gardener came during our stay and left the back yard gate open, so we awoke one morning to find two deer in our own back yard! (Any yard with grass or plants in this area is fenced off to keep the deer from eating it all.) The boys were able to get within three feet of one of the deer (who later took a nap in the back corner of our yard too). It was an incredible experience.

And Lucas STILL enjoys the singing big mouth bass. "Take me to the river, throw me in the water ..."

More pictures to come ...